In the early morning of the 9th Beijing time, US WTI crude oil futures prices closed higher on Wednesday, partially recovering losses from previous trading days. Official US data showed a decline in crude oil inventories, which supported oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed up $0.61, or 0.78%, to close at $78.99 a barrel.
According to official data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday, US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels in the first week of May.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, American Petroleum Institute (API) data showed that US crude oil inventories increased by 509,000 barrels last week.
Compared to API data, the decline in EIA's crude oil inventory data is surprising.
Recently, US crude oil inventories have continued to increase. In particular, inventories surged in the last week of April, putting pressure on recent crude oil prices.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a research report: “Oil market indicators have been weakening in recent weeks, and oil prices have fallen from recent peaks. The oil market is not tight right now, but we expect seasonal strength in the coming months.”